The New World

by Toby Neighbors

  In the Navy yard they tied up the boat and proceeded with caution toward the hangar area. They encountered no one, so Jason and Hank began inspecting the helicopters, while each of the other four team members searched the base in a different direction. There were three helicopters, all with United States colors and seals identifying them as the presidential aircraft. The hangar was empty otherwise, just a large, forlorn metal building.

  The electricity had gone down in most of the city and the maintenance crews had only seen to it that the central downtown area had power. Using flashlights, they walked around the helicopters, running their hands along the smooth metal skin of the ungainly vehicles. They were roughly the size of a city bus, although the back half tapered toward the tail rotor. Each had a flight deck with two pilot seats and two other seats. The larger passenger compartment was completed with four bench seats, the middle two benches back to back.

  As Jason waited for his men to return, Hank climbed into the cockpit and checked the systems. The batteries were fully charged, as was the emergency power supply. The engines all came on line neatly; the official aircraft was in top shape. After an hour, Alpha Group reassembled and reported. There was no sign of life anywhere on the naval base. They climbed on board the US101 helicopter after manually opening the hangar’s roof access. One man stayed behind to secure the hangar with the remaining two helicopters and stand guard. The aerial vehicle climbed smoothly to an altitude of 200 feet and seemed to float back to the White House. After landing on the South Lawn, they were quickly surrounded by a crowd of people who had seen the helicopter touchdown.

  Alpha Group secured the aircraft and reported to Daniel in the Oval Office. After the security team had been dismissed, Daniel and Jason sat quietly in the president’s living room. Jason enjoyed a cigar and scotch, Daniel sipped an orange soda.

  “So we can take control of the naval base?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes,” Jason said. “But there’s not much there beyond the other two helicopters and the fuel depot.”

  “Well, that’s a start. How do we secure the area?”

  “That’s a good question,” Jason said thoughtfully as he drew on the cigar and then puffed the bluish smoke out in a peaceful looking cloud. “We don’t have the manpower to do everything that’s needed. We’ll need to do some aerial reconnaissance before we make any real plans.”

  That night passed uneventfully, and early the next morning Daniel met with the council. They seemed reasonably unified in securing the naval base and taking possession of the helicopters. They also recommended several names of potential pilot trainees. Scott wrote everything down, including the names, and after the meeting adjourned, he hurried off to speak to the people nominated to be the new government’s first squad of pilots.

  Daniel joined Jason and Hank in the helicopter and they began circling the city. They saw no signs of life in the capital and decided to climb several hundred feet before heading south toward Andrews Air Force Base. From that height, it would be impossible to make out individuals, but groups of people or vehicles could be seen. The air base did seem to be occupied. Although they saw no people or movement, they did see that some sort of barrier had been set up around most of the buildings. Many of the hangars were outside the enclosure, as were all the runways, but the barracks, offices, and what was probably the armory were all inside the barrier.

  “Do we dare go closer?” Daniel said into the headset he was wearing.

  “It could be risky,” Hank said. “Especially if they have anti-aircraft weapons.”

  “I don’t see any movement,” Jason said. Hank had positioned the helicopter directly over the base and was hovering steadily.

  “This whole trip was to get an idea of our neighbors’ strength and intentions,” Daniel argued. “We can see that they’ve secured, or attempted to secure, a sizeable area, but what about their intentions?”

  “They’re obviously hostile,” Hank stated as if it were obvious. “They’ve taken control of an Air Force base.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Jason said. “Strategically, a military base is the obvious choice to ensure the safety of a group. They have weapons and facilities built to withstand an attack, but that doesn’t mean they know how to use the weapons, or even want to.”

  “I say we set down on one of the runways,” Daniel said. “Let Jason and I go out and make contact.”

  “No way,” Hank said. “You may not care about yourselves, but I am the only pilot our little group’s got. If they take us hostage then the people we serve are stuck in downtown D.C. with no way to know what’s out here.”

  “Alright,” Daniel said. “I guess you’re right, but can we at least drop down low enough to see something?”

  “I’ll move off and then make a pass at a lower altitude. That’ll make us a harder target to hit if they start shooting.”

  The three men agreed. As the chopper circled away, Daniel and Jason watched for any sign of movement, but could not see any. After flying several miles away, Hank began dropping to a lower altitude and circling back. They flew over the Air Force base at five hundred feet, but at a speed that made reconnaissance almost impossible. When they weren’t shot at, they turned and made another pass, this one slower, but still too fast to make out much. They didn’t see any people, but the barrier was clearly visible. It had been made of cars and trucks, some looked smashed and some turned over, but most were intact. They made one final pass and still saw no people. They decided to return to the White House and send in Alpha Group.

  After lunch, Hank ferried people to the naval base. A group of eight left to take up residence at the naval base: five potential pilots, one cook, two security officers. Daniel met with the maintenance crew to stress the importance of restoring communications. Until the plague hit, Daniel hadn’t realized how dependent communications had become on satellites. With electricity down, the transmission towers had no way to beam their signals through the stratosphere to the orbiting communications satellites. Landlines had been knocked out during the mass exodus after the spheres appeared, so now radio contact was the only way to communicate over distance. Daniel commissioned the crew of engineers and carpenters, most of whom had no experience outside of their areas of expertise, none of which was communications, to build a relay tower near the point of the peninsula. If a relay could boost the signals enough, the people staying downtown could radio those living on the air base.

  The clean-up team, whose primary responsibility had been the removal and disposal of bodies and clearing roads for ease of travel, now focused their efforts south of the White House. Daniel felt that if they could clear the area to the south that was bordered on one side by the Potomac and on the other by the Anacostia, that they would have a good base of stability, a safe place from which to expand and reach out to the neighboring communities. He even felt that it would be remembered as part of his legacy, a thought that made him smile. Who would have thought that after the greatest catastrophe in the history of the world, when as president he served not a nation, but a portion of one city, a city in which the population was just over two thousand people, that he could think of how history would remember him. Still, he wondered if he would be thought of as fondly as George Washington. Would school children tell stories of how honest and self-sacrificing he was, or would he be remembered as a foolish leader that overreached to expand his power and sacrificed the final icon of American freedom to the militant groups that sprang up in the wake of the plague? He shook off those thoughts and focused on the tasks at hand. Jason was prepping Alpha Group. They were slated to make contact with the group at Andrews tomorrow, with Hank and Daniel watching from the air.

  That night Daniel sat alone in the president’s living room. He munched on potato chips and watched an old movie on the large television. Jason was still working with his security team, giving assignments in the wake of Alpha Group’s extracurricular activities, with two other members of his team taking up residence at the naval base. An
d Scott’s nights were busy now that he was officially dating Doctor Amy. Daniel didn’t mind, he liked the time alone. He found himself surrounded by people all day long, but it was easier to keep going when he was busy. As much as he treasured the down time, it was also during this time that he missed Lana the most. He tried to focus on the story being played out on the television screen before him, but his mind kept projecting an image of Lana’s face before his eyes. He thought about what he would say to her if he were the character in the movie and she his leading lady. He tried not to think about where she was or what might be happening to her. As he grew sleepy, he discarded the potato chips and stretched out on the sofa. He closed his eyes and imagined that she were with him, lying close to his chest, his arm under her head. He could almost smell her hair as he drifted off to sleep.

  That night he dreamed of a mountain cabin in Colorado, with wildflowers growing on the hillsides right up to the gravel drive. Smoke climbed from the chimney as he walked along the path to the cabin. She was waiting for him, standing on the covered porch while the wind blew her dress in fitful puffs. She smiled as he approached and he saw her mouth moving as she called his name, but he could not hear her. There was a loud, whining roar from the sky above him, like someone had crossed a jet airplane and a wild animal. The sound screamed louder and louder. Although Daniel wanted desperately to ignore it, no matter how hard he strained to hear what Lana said, the sound was just too loud. The noise became deafening, it shook his ear drums violently and made his vision blur and his head pound until he was finally forced to look up. Whatever was in the sky making the roaring sound was lost in the sun, which beamed down so beautifully that for an instant Daniel forgot all about the frightening noise above. Then the thing grew larger and cast its shadow on Daniel, and the world grew dark around him. With a shiver of cold that seemed to reach inside of him and grip his spine, he woke up. In the predawn light, he though his dream seemed more than subconscious desire. There was something very prophetic about what he had dreamed, even though he didn’t believe in that kind of thing, and he was suddenly very afraid.

  Chapter 26

  The helicopter hovered nearly 40 feet off the ground. They had left as soon as dawn had cast enough light for them to see clearly. They moved across the Anacostia, heading toward Andrews Air Force Base and the community there. After crossing the river, they had dropped to as low an altitude as possible. Now, they were still a mile or so from the air base and were maintaining radio contact with Alpha Group.

  Daniel sat in the co-pilot’s seat; he would be no help if something happened to Hank, he had never taken flying lessons, although a part of him felt he could handle the controls. But he had no time for tips on piloting a helicopter, he was steadily scanning the horizon for any sign of resistance. So far, they had seen no one, not an armed guard, not a casual traveler. Daniel had a strange sense of foreboding as they drew nearer to the air base.

  When the buildings came into view, Daniel raised the powerful binoculars to look closely at the barrier of automobiles that had been set up around the base. When he saw no one there, he turned to Hank.

  “I’ve got no one,” he said, not holding down the button to transmit to Alpha Group.

  “Me either,” said Hank, who had been watching the tall air controller tower for signs of movement through equally powerful binoculars. He pressed the button on the small box that was attached to his flight jacket and spoke, “Alpha Group, no sign of life on the ground or in the tower.”

  “Roger that,” said Jason’s voice, although it crackled with static. The security team was dressed in Army fatigues, each one armed with the high tech weapons from the armory in the bunker, but they carried none of the heavy gear they had utilized the night they had taken control of the Anacostia Naval Base. They did not have the video helmets or the heavy packs because of Hank’s air support. Plus, they did not want to seem like conquering invaders as they approached the base.

  “Status report,” crackled Jason’s voice.

  “Alpha One, all clear,” said one of the security officers.

  “Not a living soul on the south side,” said another.

  “I’ve got no one,” said Alpha Four

  “Me either,” said the last team member. “I’m almost to the barrier and there are no signs of life anywhere.”

  “That could be an ambush,” Hank said to the team through his head set.

  “It’s a chance we’ve got to take if we’re going to make contact,” Jason said. “Mr. President, make the call.”

  It annoyed Daniel that he was thrust into positions of authority that he knew nothing about. He could understand the president being given such responsibility when he could choose his cabinet and advisers, but Daniel was totally ignorant of military matters, and he was suppose to make a decision that could cost five men their lives.

  “Jason,” Daniel said. “What’s your gut feeling?”

  “I’m scared,” Jason said, “but not because they might be waiting to ambush us. I’m afraid there’s no one here and I can’t imagine why anyone would willingly leave the safety of this base.”

  “Well,” Daniel said, “we’ve got to find out. Form up your team and send in one volunteer. The rest of you provide cover and keep your comm channels open.”

  “Yes, sir,” came Jason’s crisp reply. Daniel might have felt like they were playing capture the flag, but Jason’s years of military discipline were a reminder that this was no game.

  Alpha One, a former Marine and police officer from a small town in Virginia, volunteered to go in. He walked slowly toward the barrier, his hands held high. The rest of Alpha Group had taken up positions of cover in the buildings nearby. The entire squad had their radios on, allowing them to talk over one another and still be heard.

  “Hello,” shouted Alpha One. “Is anyone there?”

  No answer came, so the former Marine climbed over a pickup truck whose tailgate had been lowered onto the hood of the car behind it. He walked slowly toward the main building. Andrews Air Force Base had a tall, chain link fence surrounding the property, but the gates and guard stations had been torn down. The barrier of vehicles that surrounded the main buildings was inside the fence. There were at least two hundred yards of open ground between the barrier and the building Alpha One was approaching. It was a perfect killing ground, and he could have been shot from any of a dozen places. It was a tense two minutes as the lone security man walked toward the building, his hands high in the air. No one spoke until the man reached the doorway.

  “I see people inside,” Alpha One reported over the radio. “They haven’t seen me yet.”

  “What are they doing?” asked one of the team members, his voice incredulous.

  “They’re eating. It looks like bowls of something hot. Should I knock on the door?”

  “Are they armed, Alpha One?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t see any weapons,” came the reply.

  “Proceed then,” Daniel said.

  “Alright…here goes nothing.”

  Over the radio, Daniel heard a soft thumping as the man knocked on the door. Hank was slowly raising the helicopter’s altitude to ensure they were clear of buildings and power lines in case they needed to move in. Daniel focused his binoculars on the man at the building’s entrance.

  “Here they come,” said Alpha One, his voice a little shaky.

  There were voices, but Daniel couldn’t make them out. Then he heard the sound of Alpha One speaking.

  “My name’s Chase Monsen, I’m from the capital.”

  More voices, then, “I only want to establish communications. I mean you no harm. I represent the President of the United States.”

  Daniel still couldn’t make out the voices, so he said, “Alpha One, what is happening?”

  “They’re talking,” said Monsen. “They’ve got the door secured, but I still haven’t seen any weapons. I don’t think they’re violent.”

  “Alright, ask them for permission for us to land.”
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  “Are you crazy?” said Hank, his voice so loud it hurt Daniel’s ears.

  “No,” Daniel responded. “Jason, you and your men stay hidden.”

  Alpha One’s voice crackled through the static, “May my president land his helicopter here?”

  There was more talking by the people occupying the air base. A minute passed, then two. Finally Monsen’s voice came through again.

  “Okay, they’ve agreed. They’ll meet you here, in front of the building. They want you to come unarmed.”

  “Agreed,” Daniel said. “Alright, Hank, let’s go.”

  “You’re sure about this?”

  “Yes.”

  They drifted forward slowly. When they were above the open space between the barrier and the building where Alpha One was waiting, Hank brought the helicopter down for a smooth landing. The rotors continued slicing through the air as Daniel removed his weapons.

  “Stay here, and be ready to take off,” he said.

  He opened the co-pilot’s door and stepped down onto the asphalt. The sun was getting warm and Daniel was wearing a flak jacket over a t-shirt and jogging pants. He looked a little silly, but he thought a suit and tie would have looked just as out of place. He bent at the waist and hurried toward Monsen, who was escorting two men and a woman. The men wore blue jeans and t-shirts themselves. They had no weapons that Daniel could see. The woman wore a sun dress that was tattered but clean. She was older than the two men, her hair streaked with gray, but her figure was lean and she held her head high. It seemed she was in charge of the group.

  Daniel extended his hand to her and introduced himself.